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So I constantly forget to bring my bokken to class since our training with them is few and far between, but I find that the bokkens at the dojo whick are slightly shorter, and thinner, and alot lighter then mine are uncomfortable, any ideas on why this could be?

I learned very early in my aikido training to "always" bring my weapons. And the few times I did forget, that admonishment was always brought right home to me. Nowadays, I never wonder whether to bring them anymore, I always bring them.

I think Mark's advice is good...it's the same training I received, even in a completely different organization.

I have the same problem moving between different size/weight bokken...so I just bought my own, and always keep it handy. The cheap red oak ones don't feel right to me anymore. One I use for paired practice (hickory) and one for suburi (ebony).

Best,
Ron

Ron Tisdale
-----------------------
"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)

Daniel,
At the risk of sounding obvious on why they feel uncomfortable I think you said it yourself. The ones in your dojo are shorter, thinner, and lighter than yours so it is going to feel differently and handle differently.

I also have a thicker and heavier bokken from bujin designs and when we train in class I always make sure to grab mine if we are practicing takeaways because I don't like the ones in the dojo either.

Like Mark and Ron pointed out also, even though we may only train with either bokken or jo once every couple of weeks I never walk out of the house without both of them with me.

Harmony does not mean that there are no conflicts,
for the dynamic spiral of existence embraces both extremes.

Over the years, I've had a wide variety of bokuto and have gotten used to being able to switch amongst their different weights, styles, and shapes. Usually, when we start working on kumitachi, I'll check to see how heavy a weapon my partner is using and may switch to an appropriately weighted/styled one. So, sometimes, I use my yagyu shinkage ryu style bokuto; other times, I use my kashima shin ryu style bokuto; and, I sometimes use a middleweight bokuto as well. Some have tsuba; others do not. And so on.

I think it's worth it to start getting used to using different bokuto than your "preferred" one in the same way that it's fruitful, in the long run, to be able to work with different kinds of uke.

I remember when I first started and bought my own bokken I would swear sensei would notice when I didn't bring it. Yup, each and every time he'd say "grab your bokken"... Argh. Being somewhat thick skulled it took me a few times to realize that I was expected to always have my equipment with me.

And on different sizes... I'm a bit of a bokken collector. I've got a red oak, a couple white oak, a couple from different makers, a custom pao ferro piece, and a few others that escape me at the moment. At first I found that using the same one consistently helped me develop good basics. And later on I found that it really didn't matter much (for the most part) which one I used because if the basics are there I could compensate. There is one I have, however, that just doesn't bond well with me. Never have been able to figure that out... Just doesn't feel right.

Ya gotta bring the gi, belt, maybe hakama, etc. to class everytime you train. Bring the weapons too, it isn't all that difficult.